The High Price of Genius
by ElegantButler
Summary: What is happening to the alumni of Bryce's class from ACS? And what sinister force lurks behind it?
1. Chapter 1

**Max Headroom**

**The high price of genius **

**By Axel Ingleson**

Disclaimer: Max Headroom and his companions are the property of David Hansen and Paul Owen.

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The body was found near the parking garage at Breakthru TV. Wrapped in plastic, bound and gagged, it was clear that the boy had suffocated to death.

Edison Carter had, as usual, been first on the scene, having spotted the body while driving to work.

"This is Edison Carter, live and direct at Breakthru TV where the body of a sixteen year old boy has just been found. No word as of yet as to the identity of this unfortunate youth or his killer, but we'll keep you posted as news develops."

At Network 23, Bryce frowned as he recognized his former classmate. "Jake," he whispered. "But who? Why? This doesn't make any sense."

He decided to contact Jenni at Network 66. She might know if Jake had had any enemies. She was the one who kept in contact with everybody from the class."

Jenni was not there. Concerned, he contacted Grossberg, the President of Network 66. It was, of course, completely illegal for him to do so. But Grossberg might know where Jenni was, and it was vitally important for him to contact her.

"Ah, Bryce Lynch," Grossberg purred. "To what do I owe this illustrious and illegal honor?"

"I need to know where Jenni is," Bryce told him.

"Fallen in love, have we?"

"No!" Bryce exclaimed, rather taken aback by the question. "Of course not. But one of our classmates was just killed and I wanted to make certain she was all right."

"Well, she disappeared some time last night," Grossberg admitted. "No one has seen her since."

Bryce's expression darkened.

Edison walked into Bryce's studio. "Bryce, I…" he stopped when he saw Grossberg's face on Bryce's vu-phone. "Mind explaining what you're doing?"

"I was just checking on another classmate of mine." Bryce explained. "Jenni seems to be missing. Edison, I…"

Edison saw that Bryce was trembling from head to toe, and he knew why.

"Just one question, though," Bryce asked, speaking mostly to himself, "are they targeting everyone in my class, or just those who work at TV networks?"

"My god," Edison gasped. "Bryce?"

Bryce printed out a list of his former classmates from the Academy of Computer Sciences and handed it to Edison. "This is a list of potential victims. Please, Edison. Don't let anything happen to any of them. I'll try to locate some of them, but… I'll need your help." He looked up at Edison with eyes that, to the reporter's surprise, were brimming with tears.

"I'll do whatever I can," Edison promised, heartbroken at seeing Bryce so sad.

Bryce nodded, gratefully, and then set to work tracking Jenni's location.


	2. Chapter 2

Max Headroom

**Max Headroom**

**The high price of genius **

**By Axel Ingleson**

Jenni opened her eyes and was disturbed to find herself in an unlit room with no windows. The only light came from between the slats of a ventilator shaft high in the wall. Too high and too narrow to climb out of.

She checked herself for injuries. Nothing so far, except the feeling of slight nausea she had been feeling for most of that month. But she knew it was only a matter of time before her kidnapper or kidnappers decided to cause her some kind of harm.

She felt along the wall until she found the door. It wasn't locked. But before she could open it, she heard footsteps on the other side and two voices speaking about some unknown person, possibly her.

"How long before we can confirm this pregnancy?" a Japanese voice asked.

Jenni wondered if he worked for Zik Zak and if so, why he was so interested in whether or not she was pregnant.

"We can confirm it today," a female voice replied. "It's been ten weeks since we implanted the fetus."

"What about the other parents?" the Japanese man asked.

"Jake and Sarah are both dead," the woman told him. "I had them put down after they failed to produce offspring. Clearly their DNA was not compatible. They were completely useless to our plans."

"They could've been used for other purposes," the Japanese man scolded. "It's water under the bridge, now. But I ask that you do not kill anyone else unless I give the order. Now, who's left?"

"From the ACS class of 2001?" the woman asked. "Just Jenni and the one we chose as her mate."

"And that is?"

"Bryce Lynch."

Jenni backed away from the door as footsteps approached. The door opened and the Japanese man who flipped a switch on the wall outside the door turned on a light.

As the needle was pushed into her arm, and a blood sample extracted, Jenni prayed that she was pregnant. At least it was Bryce's child if she was. Jenni wondered how they had gotten the sample they needed from Bryce. Then she remembered his recent appendectomy. She wondered if he really had needed his appendix removed, or if the pain had been caused by someone slipping something into his food.

She was very angry with her captors. If they had drugged Bryce… What if they'd used too much? Or Bryce had been allergic to the medicine? The very thought that they might have killed Bryce, and that they wouldn't have cared if they did, made her glare at them as the checked the blood sample.

"Well, she's pregnant," the woman said, as though Jenni wasn't even there.

"Excellent," the man replied. "Make sure she remains safe. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her child. Not when it's a link between Network 23 and Network 66. Well, I had hoped Bryce would be the father. It means that Zik Zak won't have to break its current contract with Network XXIII.

"And you still believe that creating a child between these two is the answer to Zik Zak's advertising problem?"

"By mating the pair of them," the man explained, "we link the two Networks. That means that Zik Zak is now free to advertise on both Network 23 and Network 66, doubling our publicity."

"And the parents?"

"See to it that they are married at once," the Japanese man ordered.


	3. Chapter 3

Max Headroom

**Max Headroom**

**The high price of genius **

**By Axel Ingleson**

Bryce had managed to track Jenni down. When Edison had volunteered to retrieve her, Bryce insisted upon joining him.

Since Jenni was Bryce's former classmate, Edison had not refused. But he was very worried. Some unknown killer or killers had targeted Bryce's class and until he found out who had been responsible for the death of several young geniuses, he would not stop worrying about Bryce.

Arriving at Jenni's location, Edison ordered Bryce to stay with the car.

"I don't think so," Bryce disagreed, following Edison into the building.

"You're in love, aren't you?"

"No," Bryce shook his head. "Why do people keep asking me that? Jenni was my classmate. That's all."

"She's going to be more than that soon," the woman who had abducted Jenni told him.

"You're the one who took her," Bryce realized.

"We had to keep her safe," the Japanese man told him. "What with her carrying your child and all."

"What?" Bryce asked, certain that he had not heard him correctly. "That's impossible."

"Bryce," Jenni said. "You never had an appendectomy. It was all a ruse to collect genetic material from you to impregnate me with."

"The really good news is that this is your wedding day."

Bryce and Jenni glared at him.

As far as Bryce was concerned, he did not intend to marry Jenni. She was a good friend, but that was all. His heart, though he would never admit it, belonged to another.

"I don't think so," Bryce shook his head. "You had no right breeding us, like we were some kind of animals."

"Besides," Edison cut in, "Bryce is already spoken for."

Unexpectedly, he pulled Bryce to himself and kissed the young genius full on the lips.

Bryce, realizing he had to make it look good, responded to the kiss, which ended up lasting a bit longer than necessary.

Besides, it _was_ Edison he had lost his heart to.

When Edison finally stopped kissing him, Bryce purred, contentedly and rested his head against Edison's chest, much to the surprise of Murray and Theora who had been amongst the people at Network 23 (at last count all but Bryce) who had been unaware of the head of R&D's feelings for their star reporter.

Edison kept his arms around Bryce, protectively. "I won't let them hurt you." He promised.

"What about the baby?" Bryce asked. "We can't just abandon Jenni. She's my friend, Edison."

"We'll do what we can to help her," Edison promised. "Jenni, if you want to stay with us…"

"I can't," Jenni apologized. "I have other obligations."

"What about the baby?"

"I'll be all right," Jenni promised. She didn't sound convinced, though.

"Isn't this all sentimental," the woman sneered. "Too bad this isn't about sentimentality. It's all about credits. Now," she pointed a gun at Jenni's head. "Even _you_ aren't faster than a bullet, Edison Carter. So I suggested you step aside and we get down to the business of this marriage."


	4. Chapter 4

Max Headroom

**Max Headroom**

**The high price of genius **

**By Axel Ingleson**

Back at Network 23, Theora and Murray were horrified by the predicament that Bryce was in.

"What are we going to do?" Theora asked. "There must be _some_ way we can help them."

Max considered the situation, and then vanished. A moment later, he returned. "All take take taken care of. Of."

"Max?" Theora asked. "What did you just do?"

"Somehow," Murray muttered, "I don't think I want to know."

At the kidnappers' lair, the woman accessed the wedding channel. She ordered Jenni to insert her credit tube for alteration at the close of the nuptial ceremony.

Then it was Bryce's turn.

"I'm sorry, but this ceremony has been cancelled," the Wedding Channel's main presenter told them.

"Cancelled?" the Japanese man asked. "Why?"

"The groom is already married." The presenter explained.

"To whom?" the woman demanded.

"Edison Carter."

Edison kissed Bryce again, which was fortunate because Bryce had been so surprised to find out that he was married to the man he loved that he had chosen that moment to faint.

Back at Network 23, Theora turned to face Murray. "Murray? When did Edison marry Bryce?"

They turned to look at Max.

"Max?" Murray asked. "Did you alter Bryce's and Edison's credit information to make them appear married?

"Mmm… I might have done something like that. That." Max confessed.

"Max, that's brilliant!" Theora praised.

"Just one problem," Murray told her. "As soon as the information was changed, the credit banks accepted Bryce and Edison as a couple. They're legally married now."

"Somehow," Theora said, looking at the screen where Bryce was still snuggled close in Edison's arms, "I don't think the news is going to upset them."

"Well, we'll just have to make him a widower," the woman turned her gun on Edison and was about to pull the trigger when Bryce dove at her, grabbing for the gun and trying to wrestle it from her grasp.

Edison ducked out of the way, and tried to grab the gun from the struggling pair.

All of a sudden, it went off.

Bryce gave a small whimper of pain, then fell over and lie, bleeding, on the ground.

"Oh, damn," Edison swore. "Bryce."

"I told you not to kill anyone without my permission," the Japanese man said, angrily. He pulled a gun from his own pocket and fired a single shot into the head of the woman. Then he looked bitterly at Edison. "Trans-Network link project terminated." He grumbled, as he walked out of the building.

Edison knelt down beside his unexpected husband and shook him. "Bryce. Stay awake. Don't you dare leave me."

"Need sleep…" Bryce whispered. "Please… lemme sleep."

"No, Bryce," Edison replied. "No. Don't go to sleep."

Theora was in tears as she contacted the medical center and had them dispatch an ambulance to Edison, Bryce, and Jenni's location.


	5. Chapter 5

Max Headroom

**Max Headroom**

**The high price of genius **

**By Axel Ingleson**

Edison sat by Bryce's bedside. The bullet fragments had been removed from Bryce's neck and he was resting with Edison sitting by his side.

"How is he?" the reporter asked.

"Critical," the doctor replied. "It's not likely he'll live. But if he makes it through tonight, his chances will go up by thirty percent."

Edison stroked Bryce's face and kissed him softly. "Don't you dare leave me, Bryce. Don't you dare. Not when we're just starting our life together."

Theora and Murray walked in and stopped just inside the doorway.

"Edison…" Theora began. "Max…"

"What about Max?" Edison asked, through his tears. "Look if Max is causing trouble, have someone else deal with him. I'm not leaving Bryce until…"

He could not bring himself to say, "Until it's over." But Theora knew that's what he was thinking.

Max appeared on the nearest TV screen. "Bryce?" he asked.

"He's not going to make it, is he?" Theora asked Murray.

"I don't think so," Murray admitted, glumly.

"And af- af- after I worked so hard getting him and Edison together," Max sniffled. "C- c- come on, Bryce. Don't give up. Stay with us. Do you hear hear hear me? Hm? D- d- d- do you?"

Edison stayed at Bryce's side all night long, until he finally fell asleep, slumping over Bryce and dozing off, sleepily.

Bryce woke sometime during the night. Smiling, despite the pain he still felt, he stroked Edison's hair until the older man woke.

"Bryce!" Edison said, happily. He bent down and kissed Bryce. "How much do you remember?"

"I remember going to rescue Jenni, but not much after that." Bryce admitted.

"Well, somehow we ended up married."

"We WHAT?!" Bryce yelped, and then winced in pain.

"Easy, kiddo," Edison said, concernedly. "You got shot yesterday."

"Thanks a bundle, Edison," Bryce muttered. "You could have told me _that_ instead of joking around about us getting married."

"I don't know how to tell you this, Bryce," Edison replied. "But I wasn't joking."

"You mean we…?" Bryce looked up at his husband in wonder.

Edison nodded. "Are you upset?"

Bryce shook his head. "Not at all."


End file.
